1. Environmental variability supports chimpanzee behavioural diversity
- Author
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Tobias Deschner, Juan Lapuente, Bradley Larson, Crickette M. Sanz, Jodie Preece, Liliana Pacheco, Nikki Tagg, Mimi Arandjelovic, Christopher D. Barratt, Sorrel Jones, Jacob Willie, Martha M. Robbins, Heather Cohen, Adam Welsh, Floris Aubert, Rebecca Chancellor, Kathryn J. Jeffery, Fiona A. Stewart, Manasseh Eno-Nku, Emmanuel Ayuk Ayimisin, Klaus Zuberbühler, Hjalmar S. Kühl, Roman M. Wittig, Lucy Jayne Ormsby, Aaron S. Rundus, Emmanuel Danquah, Volker Sommer, Deo Kujirakwinja, Dervla Dowd, Yisa Ginath Yuh, J. Michael Fay, Mattia Bessone, Anne-Céline Granjon, Kevin Lee, David Morgan, Sergio Marrocoli, Veerle Hermans, Parag Kadam, Manuel Llana, Emmanuelle Normand, Virginie Vergnes, Annemarie Goedmakers, Sonia Nicholl, Alex K. Piel, Ammie K. Kalan, Lars Kulik, Josephine Head, Erin G. Wessling, Amelia Meier, Charlotte Coupland, Fabian B. Haas, Bryan Curran, Vera Leinert, Kevin E. Langergraber, Daniela Hedwig, Claudio Tennie, Anthony Agbor, Mohamed Kambi, Emily Neil, Bethan J. Morgan, Valentine Ebua Buh, Ivonne Kienast, Gregory Brazzola, Jessica Junker, Samuel Angedakin, Ekwoge E. Abwe, Christophe Boesch, Emma Bailey, Paula Dieguez, Kalan, Ammie K [0000-0003-1542-7077], Arandjelovic, Mimi [0000-0001-8920-9684], Boesch, Christophe [0000-0001-9538-7858], Dieguez, Paula [0000-0002-6951-2771], Agbor, Anthony [0000-0003-0815-9596], Goedmakers, Annemarie [0000-0002-6398-4778], Jeffery, Kathryn J [0000-0002-2632-0008], Jones, Sorrel [0000-0002-3579-7254], Kadam, Parag [0000-0002-6534-4205], Lee, Kevin C [0000-0002-5606-8683], Llana, Manuel [0000-0003-0570-2258], Neil, Emily [0000-0001-8156-2344], Nicholl, Sonia [0000-0001-8720-2411], Pacheco, Liliana [0000-0001-7085-6064], Sanz, Crickette [0000-0003-2018-2721], Stewart, Fiona [0000-0002-4929-4711], Tagg, Nikki [0000-0002-1397-3720], Wessling, Erin G [0000-0001-9661-4354], Wittig, Roman M [0000-0001-6490-4031], Yuh, Yisa Ginath [0000-0003-4537-2636], Kühl, Hjalmar S [0000-0002-4440-9161], Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository, Kalan, Ammie K. [0000-0003-1542-7077], Jeffery, Kathryn J. [0000-0002-2632-0008], Lee, Kevin C. [0000-0002-5606-8683], Wessling, Erin G. [0000-0001-9661-4354], Wittig, Roman M. [0000-0001-6490-4031], Kühl, Hjalmar S. [0000-0002-4440-9161], University of St Andrews. School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews. Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences, and University of St Andrews. Centre for Social Learning & Cognitive Evolution
- Subjects
Male ,0301 basic medicine ,Chemistry(all) ,Behavioural ecology ,QH301 Biology ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Woodland ,Forests ,0302 clinical medicine ,Cultural diversity ,lcsh:Science ,media_common ,education.field_of_study ,GE ,Multidisciplinary ,Behavior, Animal ,Ecology ,article ,Animal behaviour ,Human evolution ,Female ,631/181/1403 ,141 ,BF Psychology ,Pan troglodytes ,Science ,media_common.quotation_subject ,704/158/856 ,Population ,Foraging ,Cultural evolution ,BF ,Physics and Astronomy(all) ,Environment ,Diversification (marketing strategy) ,Biology ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,QH301 ,03 medical and health sciences ,Animals ,education ,Ecosystem ,QL ,Tool Use Behavior ,Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all) ,QH ,DAS ,General Chemistry ,Genetic divergence ,631/601/18 ,030104 developmental biology ,lcsh:Q ,human activities ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Diversity (politics) - Abstract
Funder: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Max Planck Society); doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100004189, Funder: Heinz L. Krekeler Foundation, Large brains and behavioural innovation are positively correlated, species-specific traits, associated with the behavioural flexibility animals need for adapting to seasonal and unpredictable habitats. Similar ecological challenges would have been important drivers throughout human evolution. However, studies examining the influence of environmental variability on within-species behavioural diversity are lacking despite the critical assumption that population diversification precedes genetic divergence and speciation. Here, using a dataset of 144 wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) communities, we show that chimpanzees exhibit greater behavioural diversity in environments with more variability — in both recent and historical timescales. Notably, distance from Pleistocene forest refugia is associated with the presence of a larger number of behavioural traits, including both tool and non-tool use behaviours. Since more than half of the behaviours investigated are also likely to be cultural, we suggest that environmental variability was a critical evolutionary force promoting the behavioural, as well as cultural diversification of great apes.
- Published
- 2020